To think a lot of homes are “soulless” and all people care about is size?

Some people can afford the luxury of being to choose souless over size and some can't.

Why would people think that a clutter free house means that they have no belongings??

We have loads of "stuff". It's all put away in cupboards, drawers, etc behind closed doors. I don't see why I should parade it and shove it under peoples' noses to "prove" I have personality. It includes all kinds of keepsakes, a music collection, lots of books, etc. But it's behind closed doors. That way I know where it is, it's kept in good condition (i.e. not fading due to sunlight etc), not gathering dust, etc.

It'd drive me insane if it was all on display on shelves, window ledges, etc. I'd be constantly dusting it all, having to keep moving it to wipe the windows and surfaces, etc. Nor do I want to be constantly tripping over stuff placed on floors etc.

"A place for everything and everything in it's place", which for me is neatly organised in drawers and cupboards and window ledges, shelves etc - minimalistic with just a few items, such as a couple of pot plants on the lounge window ledge and the odd family photo/portrait on a few walls.

Makes it so much easier to clean around and also easier knowing where things are rather than constantly wasting time looking around for stuff.

The only thing that makes me sad, is why you're still with this arsehole.

I’ve just googled the jungle print tiles, love love love. I bet your bathroom is stunning.

I have grey walls. Doesn't make it soulless/sterile though
I just find grey calming but there's plenty of books, stuff to look at, pick up, furniture that isn't grey, lighting etc

We've just had a new bathroom fitted. We have hexagonal jungle print tiles on the floor, green marble tiles up the walls and a pink herringbone feature wall. We adore it, we just picked stuff that we loved and we've had SO many compliments on it and people telling us it's the dream bathroom. It feels a real treat.

Several colleagues and friends asked for the details of the company that fitted it because it's so "wow".... every single one of them has gone for beige/white/grey.... "oh we couldn't possibly be as brave as you" huh?!

So either people hate our bathroom and are just being polite or people are too scared to be bold?!

YANBU

No she doesn't.

What a ridiculous assertion to make. Not liking clutter doesn't mean that at all. @taxguru just doesn't like clutter.

You sound uninspired. Bet your home is plain and beige 😆

🥰 OMG me too, wheely ladders AND maybe also a mezzanine level with more books with spiral steps going up to that. Amazing!

AH yes. When my parents died I got their big book case so that is in a "spare" bed room now with 2 other book cases and I thought it might be a library but given working from home these days (one lawyer son works 4 days a week from home) that is now that son's office room with his desk and it has a spare bed for all my sons' friends (my twin sons live at home) so I think the library is going to have to wait other than the book cases until everyone leaves home.

In my ideal world, if I had a big house, I'd want one room as a dedicated library. With one of those wheely ladders. Always wanted a library.

We’d like an extension to add a second full bathroom in an ideal world, but it’s also not a priority with current finances. Can’t do everything.

Your prints sound like the perfect way to display your unique travel memories and experiences in your home.

Oh I'm far too poor for one of those extensions I have watched enough home improvement shows to realize that I will have to live out my dreams via tv.

I don't like knick knacks but I do actually have a lot of prints from my travels that I have gotten framed so I have a lot of those around the house . Its just surfaces that are minimal.

I detest clutter but it is just a personalty thing - if you like it that's great. I joked when we moved to this big house my aim was to empty it and due to children's stuff that never seems to happen. My bed room as out in it less than you would see in a hotel room and that is perfect for me!

The more stuff out the harder to dust for a start but everyone differs - have your own stuff and style if you want. My son said yesterday someone had seen a photo in our kitchen and said my tiles were awful and who would choose tiles - that person has massive student debt; my son has no student debt because I have lived with the white tiles in the kitchen which were put in when it was built in 1990 and ensured my son had no student loans.

😄 yes we definitely don’t have all that toy clutter to contend with

we actually don’t have knick knacks or that sort of thing. I’m picturing a china cabinet or a snow globe collection when you say that. It’s mostly books on shelves, wall art or usable practical kitchen stuff and all our families are given the no clutter items please instruction for Christmas and birthdays

everyone seems to think the OP means loads of Knick knacks but I don’t think she does necessarily at all. Souvenirs from travels can be stuff that blends in or is practical

good luck with the extension, I think most tradespeople generally prefer your kind of style so the project will be smoother

Did it ever occur to you OP that some of us just aren’t interested? We only buy stuff for the house if something breaks or wears out. It only gets decorated if it needs it.

I wouldn’t have a clue what interior trends are, let alone have the time/energy to follow them. The clutter in that video would drive me insane.

The Ikea aesthetic is much easier with a small family. I find all those carefully chosen and displayed knick knacks and momentos trend to jar with a Barbie Dream house and Paw Patrol Mission Tower. It just looks like an episode of Extreme Hoarders

I would love a big soulless extension with shiny appliances and white walls.!

@ScrubbedCauliflower your last line says it all. Keep true to your own style. And it is perfectly possible for that to be grey walls and minimal stuff on show.

@ScrubbedCauliflower your house sounds lovely!

@WhiteButtonMoon please get a divorce! Imagine how happy you'd be, living in a home without an arsehole controlling husband moaning at you every day.

Re the YouTube videos posted, I think most of us are somewhere in the middle. I liked the colour and style of the first house but the clutter made me twitchy - I cannot cope with random piles of stuff scattered everywhere. The second house was beautiful but probably too clinical to live in comfortably - how would you relax in a place where even the towels are placed at specific angles?

I’m with you OP. And what you’re describing doesn’t mean clutter at all.

We renovated our house 3 years ago. It’s a 1960s brick built long bungalow with a tiled roof that’s not necessarily the traditional type of bungalow people think of. It’s versatile. It’s in the heart of a rural valley with beautiful views. It’s only about 1200 sq ft, detatched and was quite run down when we bought it. We went for wide plank, knotty, different length engineered oak floors throughout in most rooms (it’s gorgeous), black and white octagon and dot tiles on the hall floor. The bathroom has a black slate floor with floor to ceiling mid blue tiles that have an irregular surface and slightly different tones. A free standing bath. The sink was second hand. The kitchen surfaces are staved oak with knots. White kitchen cupboards with black cast iron handles. The bedroom has a gorgeous mural. Everything, inc kitchen and bathroom fittings, I sourced separately myself even though the builder originally tried to just get me to go to Howdens like everyone else…

We have second hand Persian style rugs, second hand furniture, like a bureau and dining room table which we bought from fb market place and sanded down and oiled. The wardrobe, chest of drawers and bedside tables in the master are second hand YP furniture. What we spent on the high quality floors and tiling we saved by buying second hand in other areas.

its not cluttered, we just make the most of space, eg shelving and tall kitchen cupboards. I learned from our last house, that if you dont want to use up floor space or clutter up surfaces, use the walls more efficiently and go up instead.

There’s a good balance of colour and neutral paint on the walls and some of the ceilings are painted. The colour scheme flows well throughout the house which is important because it’s all on one level.

It’s very easy to keep clean. Everything ihas a place and there’s a place for everything, things from our travels are generally on shelves, wall display cubes, artwork on the walls or something that can be used eg, plates. We don’t buy it if we can’t think of a space or use for it.

People who come into our house, view it as more of a country cottage now and we had it valued recently and it’s value has increased significantly.

Trouble is, we were thinking about moving to a different rural county recently for an easier commute and trawling through all the soulless samey, bi fold doored, open plan kitchen/lounge/diner, cream carpeted, boring same old plastic bathed bathroom and bland kitchened houses is depressing, I just don’t want to renovate again so soon after I got our existing house exactly as we like it, not to the same extent. The 3 houses we found with soul (2 were grade 2 listed) in a similar style to ours in beautiful rural village locations are about to get new build developments of 30plus houses on their doorsteps which stops it from being rural and peaceful.

So we’re staying put. We love our house, we love it’s heart and soul due very much to the interior work we’ve done and a 3 hour commute twice a week is not too much to pay to keep it,

Keep true to your own taste and style whatever that may be x

Exactly. I couldn't really afford to furnish my whole house with new IKEA stuff so fortunately for me I like the much cheaper mismatched second hand stuff. But if I didn't like it, didn't want it in our house, I'd be saving for the IKEA stuff. Ultimately, people's choices are usually based on what they like and what they can afford. There is absolutely no reason why what someone likes and can afford shouldn't be IKEA.

But I'm not doing all that for someone else. It's not about deliberately and consciously showing my personality as a design feature. It's how we are comfortable living.
Several people have told you their minimalistic homes with muted colour schemes facilitate their own comfort/needs. They aren't doing it for a 'trend', it's because it's their home and they want to be comfortable in it.
I love our house, but it's got no more soul in it than the home of someone living in a 'grey box', if the someone living in that 'grey box' feels comfortable and happy in that space because of that.
My point is that whilst I do probably have the sort of home you'd like, it wasn't a conscious decision, because it wasn't made with what other people will think in mind. It was about what was practical for us and what we like looking at.
That's no different to someone having the nice new furniture and the grey walls because that's what they like.
The one isn't more indicative of personality than the other. It's just different needs, practically and visually.
The reason you are getting a lot of flack about this is because you have made assumptions about why some people's homes look the way they do. I wouldn't like people assuming I only have brown furniture because it's 'trendy'. I have the furniture and things I have because it's right for me and my husband. I therefore assume that others have the things, or lack of things in their home because it's right for them. It doesn't make a difference if they saw it in a magazine if it's what they like.
Of course, some may have a specific look just because it's 'in', etc. But equally, some people have books on display they don't read, antiques for the kudos of saying they own a genuine original whatever, pianos they don't play, etc, to appear to have interests they don't have.
The fact that you don't like an aesthetic isn't the problem. It's the assumptions you make about those who have it in their homes.

I agree! I have asd and cannot cope with clutter, it makes me stressed. A few special pictures on the wall, coordinating walls/ curtains and soft furnishings and as little of everything as possible or I start to go mad. Each to their own.

I think interior design is the least of the problems in this relationship..